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Active Weekend Getaway in Southern Illinois

Fly high on the Shawnee Bluffs Canopy Tour or try another adventure in the Shawnee National Forest region.

Writer: Kit Bernardi

Photo courtesy of Shawnee Bluffs Canopy Tour.

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Photo courtesy of Shawnee Bluffs Canopy Tour.

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Giant City Lodge.

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Cobden Peach Festival.

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This is what ziplining sounds like: It starts as a low hum and then revs up to a soprano trill as you gain speed. The aria is broken only by shrieks of delight as tourgoers zoom through the forest on a Shawnee Bluffs Canopy Tour.

The three-hour zip-lining adventure crosses 35 acres of dense trees and sandstone bluffs bordering the Shawnee National Forest near Makanda, Illinois, about 115 miles southeast of St. Louis. Each segment of the gravity-fed cable system provides woodsy views and a thrill as you glide along the course. Zip No. 6 swoops 40 feet above the forest floor; No. 8 runs more than 1,000 feet long and clocks up to 40 mph. In addition to the zip lines, three short hikes between platforms squeeze past giant boulders and cross suspension bridges.

A 20-minute “flight school” prepares you for the course, covering the how-tos of launching, riding and breaking at the end of each zip. But nothing can quite prepare you for the first heart-pumping step off a platform high above the ground and then suddenly, flying.